Poulson left Google in September over Dragonfly, and said he believed four other employees had done the same. Google declined to comment on his departure at the time.

He said, according to The Times: "The narrative is that leaking is bad and that the number one priority is to prevent any leaks."

Poulson said that Google was not alone in trying to suppress employee revolts, pointing to similar movements at Microsoft and Amazon. He said the back-and-forth between workers and executives is not "going to be a short battle."

Business Insider has reported previously on the culture of extreme secrecy at Google.